Subscription/notification of a conference in a collaboration conferencing system

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for collaboration conferencing with multiple participants over a communications network, and more specifically for a conferencing controller in the network configured to control certain aspects of establishing a collaboration conference. In one particular embodiment, the user of the network may access the control system application to provide one or more conferencing parameters or settings the user wishes to be present during a collaboration conference session. The parameters may then be established by the control system and associated with the conferencing session involving the user. In one embodiment, such information may be associated with the identification token. In yet a further embodiment, a user to the collaboration control system may subscribe to receive a notification when another user of the system accesses a portion of a collaboration of the system.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to systems andmethods that provide for collaboration conferencing with multipleparticipants using devices connected to a telecommunication network,including a VoIP network, and more specifically for a conferencingcontroller in the network configured to control certain aspects ofestablishing a collaboration conference, such as providing anidentification token to one or more participants of a collaborationconference to authenticate the one or more participants

BACKGROUND

Telecommunication networks provide for the transmission of informationacross some distance through terrestrial, wireless or satellitecommunication networks. Such communications may involve voice, data ormultimedia information, among others. In addition, telecommunicationnetworks often offer features and/or services to the customers of thenetwork that provide flexible and varied ways in which thecommunications are transmitted over the network. For example, sometelecommunication networks provide a conferencing feature that allowsseveral users of the network to communicate at once, rather than asimple person-to-person communication. The number of participants to aconference communication may range from several users to severalthousand users communicating on the same telephonic, video and/or datacall.

Typically, conferencing communications require participants to theconference to place a telephonic call to a dedicated conferencingnumber. Some networks also require the participants enter a conferencecall code into the keypad of a telephonic device. The conferencingnumber and code are then utilized by the telecommunications network toidentify the caller and connect that participant to a conference bridgedevice. In general, a conference bridge is a telecommunications devicethat hosts the participants of a conferencing communication such thatthe participants can participate in a conference call. Thus, the networktypically receives the dialed number and conference code from eachparticipant and connects the participant to the conference bridgehosting the particular collaboration conference. Once connected to theconference bridge, the participant may take part in the conference. Toensure that each of the participants of the conference may take part inthe communication, each participant generally connects to the sameconference bridge.

It is with these and other issues in mind that various aspects of thepresent disclosure were developed.

SUMMARY

One implementation of the present disclosure may take the form of asystem and method for operating a collaboration conference. Theimplementation may include the operations of receiving credentialinformation from a participant to a collaboration conference hosted by atelecommunications network, accessing a subscriber database toauthenticate the credential information from the participant with atleast one entry in the subscriber database, generating an authenticationtoken associated with the at least one entry in the subscriber database,and transmitting the authentication token to a user's device associatedwith the participant to the collaboration conference utilizing thetelecommunications network.

Another implementation of the present disclosure may take the form of asystem and method for hosting a collaboration conference on atelecommunications network. The implementation may include theoperations of receiving one or more collaboration conferencingpreferences of a user to the telecommunications network from anetworking device configured to provide one or more features of a webportion of a collaboration conference hosted by the telecommunicationsnetwork to a user computing device in communication with thetelecommunications network and storing the one or more collaborationconferencing preferences of the user in at least one entry in adatabase, the at least one entry associated with an identifier of theuser. The implementation may also include the operations of receiving arequest from the user to initiate a particular collaboration conferenceat a first time, the request comprising at least the identifier of theuser and initiating the particular collaboration conference on thetelecommunications network based at least on the one or morecollaboration conferencing preferences of the user.

Yet another implementation of the present disclosure may take the formof a establishing a collaboration conference on a telecommunicationsnetwork. The implementation may include the operations of receiving asubscription request from the user of the telecommunications network,the subscription request comprising at least an identification of theuser, associating the subscription request with an audio portion of thecollaboration conference hosted by the telecommunications network, andstoring the subscription request in a database. The implementation mayalso include receiving a request to access the audio portion of thecollaboration conference from a participant to the collaborationconference and transmitting a notification to the user of thetelecommunications network in response to receiving the request toaccess the audio portion of the collaboration conference from theparticipant to the collaboration conference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary Voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP) operating environment, including a collaborationintelligence engine, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a collaboration intelligenceengine component configured to control conferencing features of atelecommunications network.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the transmission of informationthrough components of the telecommunications network to provide anidentification token to a user of the network.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generation and deliveryof a collaboration token to a participant to a collaboration conferenceto authenticate the participant.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for receiving anauthentication token from a participant to a collaboration conferenceand connecting that participant to an associated collaborationconference.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a computing system whichmay be used in implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a telecommunications network to execute oneor more features of a collaboration conference available to participantsof the conference.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for a collaboration conferencingsystem to receive a subscription from a user of the system and notifythe user when an audio portion of a collaboration conference isrequested.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computerprogram products, and the like, for collaboration conferencing withmultiple participants over a communications network, and morespecifically for a conferencing controller in the network configured tocontrol certain aspects of establishing a collaboration conference, suchas creating an identification token to one or more participants of acollaboration conference. Collaboration conferencing as used hereincomprises any type of multimedia conferencing over a network, such asaudio conferencing, web or internet conferencing and multi-site videoconferencing. To aid in establishing or setting up a conference in atelecommunications network, a collaboration control system orconferencing controller may be provided in the network. In oneembodiment, the control system is a component or group of componentsthat performs conferencing establishing functions, such as identifyingparticipants to the conference, providing participant information to aconferencing bridge of the network, establishing one or moreconferencing features based on input received from one or moreparticipants, and the like. In another embodiment, the functionsdescribed herein relating to the control system may be performed byexisting components of the telecommunications network. For example, oneor more application servers may be programmed to perform some or all ofthe collaboration control system functions described herein. As such,descriptions of the functions of the control system included herein maybe performed by any component within or associated with thetelecommunications network.

In one particular embodiment, the control system may receive identifyinginformation from a participant to a collaboration conference and providean identification or collaboration token to the potential participant.This token may be used by the user and/or the telecommunications networkto verify the credentials, preferences and/or identification of theparticipant to the network and collaboration conference system. Use ofthe token may replace the need for a participant to a collaborationconference to use interactive voice responses (IVR) or provideinformation on a keypad of a telephonic device in order to join thecollaboration conference. Further, the token may be more secure thantransmitting the participant's information across the network as onlythe identification token is used to authenticate the participant. Inaddition, the token information may be retained by the collaborationconference system or telecommunications network for use of connectingthe user associated with the token to future collaboration conferencesor other features available through the network

In addition, the control system may be accessible to a user of thetelecommunications network through an application programming interface(API) or web portal. The user of the network may access the controlsystem application to provide one or more conferencing parameters orsettings the user wishes to be present during a collaboration conferencesession. The parameters may then be established by the control systemand associated with the conferencing session involving the user. In oneembodiment, such information may be associated with the identificationtoken, explained above. In general, any parameter or feature of acollaboration conference offered by the telecommunications network maybe received and executed by a component of the control system known asthe collaboration intelligence engine (CIE). For example, the featuresmay include dialing-out to a participant of the conference, features ofa web-conferencing component of the conference, contact and calendarinformation for the conference participants, the technical requirementsfor the conference, and the like. Through the use of the CIE and theidentification token described below, a user's preference for acollaboration conference may be established for conferences involvingthe particular user.

Further still, the collaboration conference system may provide a featurethat allows participants to the collaboration conference to subscribewith the system to receive a notification when an audio portion of acollaboration conference begins. For example, many collaborationconferences include an interactive or web portion for exchangingdocuments and/or information between computing devices connected to anetwork. In one particular embodiment, the network may include theInternet. Also, an audio portion of the collaboration conference may beassociated with the web portion to provide a platform through whichparticipants to the conference may communicate. However, it may be thatthe participants to the collaboration conference do not intend toutilize the audio portion during the conference, but rather are usingthe system to exchange information solely through the computing devices.Thus, rather than utilizing the collaboration conference system toestablish an audio portion of the conference that remains unused duringthe collaboration, one embodiment of the present disclosure provides forone or more of the participants to register or subscribe with thecollaboration conference system to receive a notification when or if theaudio portion of the conference is utilized by another participant. Oncenotified, the participant may then connect to the audio portion of thecollaboration conference to communicate with other participants of theconference. Thus, through this subscribe/notify feature, users of thecollaboration conference system may only connect to an audio portion ofthe conference when another participant also joins.

In addition, the subscription/notify feature of the collaborationconference system may reduce telecommunication network resources thatare reserved for the collaboration conference but otherwise go unusedduring the conference. For example, many collaboration conference systemreserve one or more ports on a conferencing bridge for an audio portionof the conference when the conference is started. However, as mentionedabove, the audio portion of a conference is not always utilized duringthe conference. As such, the reserved ports on the conferencing bridgemay be unused by participants during the conference. Rather thanreserving the ports on the conferencing bridge when a web-basedconference begins, the system may utilize the subscribe/notify featureto open the ports on the conferencing bridge when a participant attemptsto access the audio portion of the conference and not when the webconference portion begins. Once reserved, the conferencing system maynotify one or more of the other participants that the audio portion ofthe conference has been opened so that the other participants may jointhe audio portion on the conferencing bridge. In this manner, thenetwork resources utilized for an audio portion of a collaborationconference may only be consumed by the conference if/when a participantto the conference accesses the audio portion, rather than reserving theresources upon the initiation of the web portion of the conference.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary operating environment 100 for hostingconference collaboration communications between multiple participants.The environment 100 provides for setting up communication sessionsbetween network users. With specific reference to FIG. 1, theenvironment 100 includes a VoIP network 102, which may be provided by awholesale network service provider. However, while the environment 100of FIG. 1 shows a configuration using the VoIP network 102, it should beappreciated that any communication network is envisioned as included inthe operating environment 100. For example, network 102 may be a circuitswitch communication network utilizing time division multiplexing (TDM)or plain old telephone service (POTS) switching. In general, the network102 of FIG. 1 may be any communication network known or hereafterdeveloped. However, for ease of understanding, a VoIP network embodimentis hereafter used to describe the communications network.

The VoIP network 102 includes numerous components such as, but notlimited to gateways, routers, and registrars, which enable communicationacross the VoIP network 102, but are not shown or described in detailhere because those skilled in the art will readily understand thesecomponents. More relevant to this description is the interaction andcommunication between the VoIP network 102 and other entities, such asthe one or more customer home or business local area networks (LANs)106, where a participant in a conference will connect with the systemfor the conference.

Customer network 106 can include communication devices such as, but notlimited to, a personal computer or a telephone 110 connected to arouter/firewall 114. Although shown in FIG. 1 as telephonic devices 110,the communication devices may include any type of communication devicethat receives a multimedia signal, such as an audio, video or web-basedsignal, and presents that signal for use by a user of the communicationdevice. The communication and networking components of the customernetwork 106 enable a user at the customer network 106 to communicate viathe VoIP network 102 to other communication devices, such as anothercustomer network and/or an analog telephone 115,120. Components of thecustomer network 106 are typically home- or business-based, but they canbe relocated and may be designed for easy portability. For example, thecommunication device 110 may be a wireless (e.g., cellular) telephone orportable laptop computer.

The customer network 106 typically connects to the VoIP network 102 viaa border network 122, such as one provided by an Internet ServiceProvider (ISP). The border network 122 is typically provided andmaintained by a business or organization such as a local telephonecompany or cable company. The border network 122 may providenetwork/communication-related services to their customers. In contrast,the communication device 120 accesses, and is accessed by, the VoIPnetwork 102 via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 126 operatedby a local exchange carrier (LEC). Communication via any of the networkscan be wired, wireless, or any combination thereof. Additionally, theborder network 122 and PSTN 126 may communicate, in some embodiments,with the VoIP Network 102 through a media gateway device (130, 132). Forease of instruction, only three communication devices 110, 115, 120 areshown communicating with the VoIP network 102; however, numerous suchdevices, and other types of devices, may be connected with the network,which is equipped to handle enormous numbers of simultaneous calls andother communications.

In general, a request for a collaboration conference over the VoIPnetwork 102 is initiated by a requester through one of the communicationdevices 110, 115, 120 associated with the network. As used herein, theterm “collaboration conference” includes any type of collaborationbetween three or more users of a communication network. For example, thecollaboration conference may include audio collaboration, videocollaboration, web collaboration, a combination of any of the above, andthe like. For ease of instruction, the collaboration conferencesdiscussed herein are generally made in reference to an audio conferenceand/or web collaboration, although any type of collaboration conferenceover a telecommunications network is envisioned with respect to thepresent disclosure. Similarly, although FIG. 1 illustrates thecommunication devices 110, 115, 120 as telephonic devices, thecommunication devices may be any type of communication device, includingpersonal computers, cellular phones and the like.

Upon receipt of the request for a collaboration conference, the network102 routes the request to a collaboration control system 140 integratedwithin the network 102. One such collaboration control system mayinclude the CIE discussed above for use in establishing thecollaboration conference. However, it should be appreciated that thecollaboration control system 140 and CIE may be a part of the network102, may be separate from the network, or may have portions deployed inthe network and out of the network. In addition, the collaborationcontrol system 140 may be resident on one or more components of the VoIPnetwork 102, including several instances of the collaboration controlsystem integrated throughout the network.

To transmit the request to the network, the requester uses thecommunication device 110,115,120 to dial a conference specific telephonenumber and/or access a web-based collaboration conference component. Inone embodiment, the network, upon receipt of the dialed communication,executes an application that queries the requester to enter an accesscode number that the requester enters into the communication device 110,115, 120. With this information, the network 102 determines that therequester intends to initiate or join a collaboration conference androutes the request to a conference bridge, as explained in greaterdetail below. Further, an identification token may be provided by thecollaboration control system 140 of the network 102 for identificationpurposes to the conferencing system, among other uses. In anotherembodiment, the requester may be known by the network 102 and theidentification token may be provided directly to the requesting device.

In any event, the collaboration control system 140 receives the requestto begin a collaboration conference or join an existing conference. Inresponse, and described in more detail below, the collaboration controlsystem 140 may route the one or more requests to one of severalconference bridges 142,144 associated with the VoIP network 102 forhosting of the collaboration conference. Although only two conferencebridges 142,144 are shown in FIG. 1, it should be appreciated that anynumber of conference bridges may be associated with the network 102 forhosting collaboration conferences.

In general, the conference bridges 142,144 provide a hosting site for acollaboration conference between a plurality of users of the network102. Thus, conference bridge A 142 may host a collaboration conferencewhile conference bridge B 144 may host an additional collaborationconference. In particular, conference bridge A 142 is connected to thecommunications network 102 through a media gateway 133 similar to themedia gateway disclosed above. This configuration may be utilized whenthe conference bridge 142 is a time division multiplex (TDM) bridge.Conference bridge B 144 is internal to the communications network 102through which the communications of the conference are transmitted. Thisconfiguration is utilized for Internet Protocol (IP) based bridges.

Additionally, the collaboration control system 140 may be configured foruse with any number of network and conference bridge platforms. Forexample, the telecommunications network 102 of FIG. 1 may be configuredas a TDM network or an IP-based network, which includes video, audio andweb-based components, to which the routing component 140 may beconfigured to interface. Another particular network and/or conferencebridge platform supported by the network configuration 102 of FIG. 1 isa Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) based network. For example,conference bridge B 144 may be a SIP-based conference bridge. SuchIP-based components may provide additional conferencing features to thenetwork by providing information concerning the collaboration conferencein a header of a message transmitted through the network such as anidentification of the collaboration conference, video integration,Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) based routing and conferenceintegration, conference access credentials for authentication andpermission to enter the requested conference. SIP-based conferencebridges may also provide high definition audio, additional securityfeatures and transitions between collaboration conferences withouthaving to redial into the system. In general, because componentsoperating utilizing SIP can exchange information within a header, manyadditional features for a collaboration conference can be offered toparticipants on a SIP-based conference bridge. In addition, SIP-basedrouting devices may utilize many of the advantages of informationexchange within the header when communicating with TDM-based networkdevices.

To connect to a collaboration conference, each participant to theconference may be routed to the same conference bridge 142,144 for theduration of the conference. The conference bridge 142,144, in turn,provides communication ports for each participant such that eachparticipant can hear or otherwise participate in the collaborationconference. Any conference bridge known in the art or hereafterdeveloped may be integrated into the system 100 of FIG. 1 for hosting acollaboration conference. In addition, the term “conference bridge” or“bridge” includes any component of a communication network that providesan access point to one or more users of the network for a collaborationconference. For example, “conference bridge” may also include suchdevices as a media server device, a gateway server device or the like asconfigured within the network 102.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a telecommunicationscollaboration control system (or systems) configured to controlconferencing features of the telecommunications network. As describedabove, the collaboration control system is configured to receive arequest to join a collaboration conference from a user of the network(or more particularly, a user's communication device 110,115,120) andestablish the conference at a conferencing bridge 142,144 associatedwith the network 102. In general, the components of the collaborationcontrol system described below may be embodied in one or more componentsof the telecommunications network 102, such as one or more applicationservers. In one particular embodiment, the components of thecollaboration control system are executed on several disparatecomponents of the network 102. Further, while several components of thecollaboration control system are discussed herein, it should beappreciated that such collaboration control systems may include more orfewer components than described, executed on any number of networkcomponents. In one particular embodiment, the collaboration controlsystem is a portion of the routing component(s) and CIE 140 illustratedin FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the collaboration control system 202 may includeseveral components. For example, the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 includesa database 204 for storing information concerning the establishment ofone or more collaboration conferences, a network interface 220 forreceiving and transmitting information to and from a telecommunicationsnetwork, a collaboration intelligence engine (CIE) configured to controlcertain aspects of the collaboration conference, a collaborationconference routing server (CCRS) configured to receive a request for acollaboration conference and establish the conference on a conferencingbridge, and a real-time application programming interface (RTAPI)configured to interact with a web-based collaboration conferencingfeature. These components are all described in more detail below.Further, these components are but a few of the networking componentsthat may be included in the collaboration control system 202.

As mentioned, the collaboration control system 202 may include adatabase 204 for storing information used by the collaboration controlsystem to initiate and/or manage collaboration conferences for atelecommunications network. In particular, the database 204 may includea data store of conference preferences associated with one or more usersto the collaboration conference system, a data store of identificationtokens that aid the collaboration control system 202 in identifying andauthenticating participants to the collaboration conferencing systemand/or a particular collaboration conference, and a data store of validuser accounts of the collaboration conferencing system. In addition, thedatabase 204 may include any other data stores that may aid thecollaboration control system 202 in creating and maintaining acollaboration conference on the telecommunications network. These datastores are described in greater detail below.

Also, the collaboration control system 202 may include a CIE component212. In general, the CIE component 212 receives one or morecollaboration conference parameters from a collaboration participant.The CIE 212, perhaps utilizing a control engine 214, then executes oneor more of the received conference parameters during the initiating ofthe particular collaboration conference. As explained in greater detailbelow, the conference parameters may include a conferencing beginningtime, the number of participants to a particular collaborationconference, identifiers for each of the participants, telephone numbersassociated with the participants, and so on. The CIE 212 may beconfigured to receive and execute any parameter or setting of acollaboration conference from a user or participant. In addition and asalso explained in more detail below, the parameters and/or conferencingsettings may be associated with a collaboration token stored in thedatabase 204 of the collaboration control system 202.

The collaboration control system 202 may also include a CCRS component216. In one example, the CCRS 216 receives a request to join acollaboration conference from one or more of the participants and routethe participants to a shared communication bridge that conducts theconference. Additionally, the CCRS 216 may receive and maintaininformation about the communications network to intelligently route thecollaboration conference to an appropriate bridge based on any number ofcriteria. For example, the CCRS 216 may communicate with one or moreconference bridges associated with the communications network anddetermine which conference bridge will host a collaboration conferencerequest from a collaboration participant.

The CCRS 216 may also determine which conference bridge will host acollaboration conference request based on other information. Forexample, the CCRS 216 may utilize the information stored in the databaseto attempt to select a conference bridge based on the requester'sinformation. Such information may include, but are not limited to, therole of the requester in the conference (such as a chairperson, leader,participant, recorder line, link to another service platform, etc.), aregional preference, the size of the collaboration request, and certaincollaboration features of the conference collaboration. In anotherexample, the CCRS 216 may receive performance information from aplurality of conference bridges able to conduct the collaborationconference and select a conference bridge in response to the performanceinformation. For example, a particular bridge may provide certainadditional features, such as high definition audio, such that theselection of the conference bridge may be based on the desire for theadditional features. Also, the CCRS 216 may be configured to respond toa failure in one of the conference bridges to allow for repair to thenetwork and/or account for split conferences that may occur due to thebridge failure. In general, the CCRS 216 may provide configurability inrouting a collaboration conference to a conference bridge based on anynumber of criteria and information about the requester and thecommunications network on which the conference occurs. One example of aCCRS system is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/708,636titled “CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTING SERVER”, which is incorporated byreference in its entirety herein.

Also included in the collaboration control system 202 may be an RTAPIcomponent 218. In general, the RTAPI 218 provides a platform throughwhich one or more users or clients of the telecommunications networkinterfaces with one or more conferencing components of the network. Ingeneral, the RTAPI system 218 allows a user to create a server-clientrelationship with a server of a telecommunication's network to providecommands or instructions to the network that are then translated intothe proper command corresponding to the type of conferencing system anddevice associated with the user. For example, the RTAPI 218 may providean interface for one or more user devices to access a web component of aconferencing feature provided by the telecommunications network.

In general, the RTAPI 218 provides a common interface through whichclients can interact with services of a telecommunication network, suchas a web conferencing system of the network. In particular, the RTAPI218 may be used to mask or hide the actual platforms located within theweb conferencing system and may serve as a command interpreter betweenthe clients and the various platforms. In some instances, the RTAPI 218may provide such functionality as client application authentication,subscription verification, conference bridge and conference statedetermination, dial-out, etc., among others. The RTAPI 218 may alsoprovide web conference related information, such as a roster ofconference participants, current speaker, and the like.

Through the RTAPI system 218, the telecommunications network may alsoprovide added functionality to web conferencing over the network,regardless of which conferencing system is being utilized by the networkfor the conference associated with the user. For example, the RTAPI 218can provide active talker identification to the user's clientapplication that indicates which participant in the conference isspeaking or active at any time. In another embodiment, the RTAPI 218 mayreconcile multiple presences of a participant to the conference toprovide a uniform identification within the collaboration conference.For example, the RTAPI component 218 may recognize a dialed-in presenceof a user to the conference as similar to a log-in presence of the sameuser. In this situation, the RTAPI 218 may utilize the CIE 212 componentof the collaboration control system 202 to provide a singleidentification of the user to a web conferencing interface accessed bythe user. One example of the RTAPI system 218 is disclosed in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/244,537 titled “REAL TIME APPLICATIONPROGRAMMING INTERFACE IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK”, which isincorporated by reference in its entirety herein.

By utilizing the collaboration control system 202 of FIG. 2, thetelecommunications network may initiate and operate a collaborationconference over the network. In particular, FIG. 3 is a block diagramillustrating the transmission of information through one or morecomponents of the telecommunications network to establish and maintain acollaboration conference on a telecommunications network. The blockdiagram of FIG. 3 includes a call flow that is described in more detailbelow that indicates the use of the collaboration control system 202when initiating a collaboration conference. As described above withreference to FIG. 1, the network 300 of FIG. 3 may include more or fewercomponents than those illustrated. Rather, the components illustrated inFIG. 3 are included for simplification of the present disclosure.

Through the system 300 of FIG. 3, a user to a telecommunications networkmay access a collaboration conference hosted by the network. In previouscollaboration conferencing systems, participants to a collaborationconference would provide information to the system through the user'scommunication device. For example, a participant may provideinformation, such as an access code and access number associated withthe participant, to the system through the touchpad of the participant'stelephone utilizing Dial-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signalingtechnology. However, such steps to register with the collaborationconferencing system can be cumbersome to the participants to theconference. Further, such information may be intercepted by a thirdparty during transmission to the collaboration conferencing system.Alternatively, participants to a collaboration conference may utilizethe system 300 of FIG. 3 to authenticate themselves and receive anauthentication token that may be more secure when transmitted throughtelecommunications networks associated with the participants. An exampleflow of transmitted information for authenticating a participant with acollaboration conference through the use of an authentication token isdescribed below.

Initially, the participant utilizes a communication device 302associated with the user to provide some identifying information to acomputing device hosting a webpage 304 or other online interface, suchas a web server. The computing device for hosting a webpage is referredto herein as a web host 304. The user may utilize the communicationdevice, such as a desktop, laptop, cell phone, personal digitalassistant (PDA), tablet, and the like, to access the web host 304 apublic network, such as the Internet. In one particular example, theuser may utilize the communication device 302 to access a webpageconfigured to provide an interface to the collaboration conferencingsystem of the telecommunication network. Through the interface, the userprovides identifying information, as indicated by transmission arrow 306in FIG. 3 from the communication device 302 to the web host 304.Identifying information may be any type of information that thetelecommunications network utilizes to initiate a collaborationconference and authenticates participants to the conference. Forexample, the user may provide some identifier of the user (such as aname, identification number, access number, etc.), an access code orother collaboration conference identifier, whether the user is achairperson of the collaboration conference or a participant,communication device identifiers that identify the communication devicesof the participant that may be used during the collaboration conference,and the like. Further, as explained in more detail, the web host 304 mayobtain information from the user on the particulars and features of thecollaboration conference being joined or initiated by the user. Forexample, the user may provide the start time for the collaborationconference, a level of service for the conference (such as highdefinition audio or video), identifications of participants to thecollaboration conference, contact information for the participants tothe conference, dial-out information to the participants, participantpreferences (such as online avatars, preferred communication devices,etc.), and any other information that may be used by thetelecommunications network to establish and maintain a collaborationconference. As explained below, this information may be utilized by aCIE 212 component of the network when initiating the collaborationconference and also may be associated with an identification token usedby the network.

Once the web host 304 receives the identification information (alsoreferred to herein as the “conference credentials”) from the user, theweb host 304 transmits the information over one or more networks, suchas the telecommunications network, to the RTAPI 218 component of thenetwork. This transmission is illustrated in FIG. 3 as transmissionarrow 308. As explained above, the RTAPI 218 provides a common interfacethrough which clients can interact with services of a telecommunicationnetwork, such as a web conferencing system of the network. Thus, theRTAPI 218 provides an interface for the web host 304 to provideinformation to the conferencing control system 202 of thetelecommunications network. Through the RTAPI, the web host 304 providesthe conference credentials to the conferencing control system 202 forprocessing and authentication of the user's communication device 302.

The RTAPI 218 then transmits the credential information to the CCRS 216of the conferencing control system 202, as shown in transmission arrow310. The CCRS 216 is configured to collect and process the credentialinformation for one or many participants to collaboration conferenceshosted by the telecommunication network. Thus, the CCRS 216 may receivethe credential information for each participant to a collaborationconference. Further, the CCRS 216 may transmit the received credentialinformation to the authorization database 204 of the conferencingcontrol system 202, as shown in transmission arrow 312. In general, theauthorization database 204 is the main store for subscriber data to thecollaboration conferencing system of the telecommunications network.Thus, the CCRS 216, as part of the transmission arrow 310, may accessthe database 204 and compare the received credential information withsubscriber data stored in the database. In this manner, the CCRS 216 mayverify the credential information as belonging to a subscriber to thenetwork and, thereby, authenticate the user's device 302 as beingsubscribed to utilize the collaboration conference system of thenetwork. In particular, if the provided credential information matchesor is associated with a user's information stored in the database, thenthe user (or the user's device 302) is authenticated with thecollaboration conference system and may initiate and/or join an existingconference. In addition, the credential information may be stored in theauthentication database 204 for further use by the system.

In one embodiment, the authentication database 204 provides anauthentication token to the CCRS 216 in response to the authenticationof the user or user's device 302 with the conferencing control system202. The delivery of the authentication token to the CCRS 216 is shownas transmission arrow 314. In general, the authentication token may beany series of alphanumeric characters, such as a string of numericdigits, a series of bits, a password, and the like. In one example, theauthentication token represents or is associated with an entry in theauthentication database 204 corresponding to the user or user's device302 authenticated above. In other words, the authentication tokenoperates as a pointer to an entry or entries in the authenticationdatabase 204 corresponding to a subscriber to the collaborationconference system. The authentication token, in one embodiment, isconfigured to be embedded or otherwise transmitted with in a SessionInitiation Protocol (SIP) message, as explained in more detail below. Inanother embodiment, also discussed in more detail below, theauthentication token may be associated with one or more conferencingpreferences received from the user or user's device 302.

Upon receiving the authentication token, the CCRS 216 may store a copyof the authentication token in a memory store. In one embodiment, theCCRS 216 may authenticate the credential information with theauthentication database 204 and generate the authentication tokenitself. Regardless of the embodiment, however, a copy of theauthentication token is maintained by the CCRS 216 or authenticationdatabase 204. In transmission arrow 316, the CCRS 216 transmits theauthentication token to the RTAPI 218. The RTAPI 218 then transmits theauthentication token to the web host 304 (transmission arrow 318) andthe web host provides the authentication token to the user's device 320(transmission arrow 320). In this manner, the user's device 302 may beauthenticated by the conferencing control system 202 and anauthentication token is returned to the user's device to register theuser's device with a collaboration conference.

Once the authentication token is received, the user's device 302 mayjoin or initiate a collaboration conference on the telecommunicationsnetwork. In particular, the user's device 302 transmits a request for acollaboration conference to the Session Border Controller (SBC) 322associated with the telecommunications network. In one embodiment, therequest from the user's device 302 may take the form of a SIP-basedrequest. Further, the request may include the authentication tokenreceived at the user's device 302. In one embodiment, the authenticationtoken includes an identification of the requester, an identification ofthe particular collaboration conference, and an indication of the roleof the requester in the conference. For example, the requester mayrequest to be the chairperson of the conference or join as a participantto a particular conference. The SBC 322 processes the request and, basedat least on the information included in the request, transmits therequest (including the authentication token) to the CCRS 216 intransmission 326. Upon receiving the request, the CCRS 216 may comparethe authentication token to known authentication tokens of theconferencing control system 202. In particular, because the CCRS 216maintains a copy of the authentication tokens generated by the controlsystem 202, the CCRS may then compare a received authentication token tothe stored tokens. A participant to a collaboration conference is thusauthenticated with the conferencing system when the receivedauthentication token matches a stored token. In one embodiment, the CCRS216 includes a decoding program that decodes the authentication tokeninto information that the CCRS can use to verify the identity of theuser's device or user, the identity of the requested collaborationconference, and the role of the requester to a conference. In yetanother embodiment, the CCRS 216 accesses the database 204 uponreceiving the authentication token to verify the token with the system202. Regardless of the embodiment, the CCRS 216 may use theauthentication token received in the SIP invite message from the user'sdevice 302 (and/or SBC 322) to authenticate the user with thecollaboration conferencing system.

As should be appreciated, the authentication token may be configured toprovide security features to the authentication of participants tocollaboration conferences. For example, the authentication token may bea series of numbers that is meaningless if intercepted by a third partyduring transmission in a SIP message. Rather, it is through thecomparison of the received authentication token with a stored token bythe CCRS 216 that the user or participant is authenticated with thesystem. Further, each authentication token may be a “one use” token. Inthis embodiment, each authentication token stored by the CCRS 216 may bedeleted or otherwise removed from the stored memory when authenticationoccurs. This may prevent a third party from obtaining an authenticationtoken and reusing the token to gain access to the collaborationconference system. In some embodiments, the CCRS 216 or database 204include a function that deletes a stored authentication tokens after thetoken has been stored for a programmable time period. In other words,the stored tokens may have a specified lifetime to avoid the collectionof unused authentication tokens in storage. In this manner, the use ofauthentication tokens is more secure than providing identifyinginformation directly to the CCRS 216 over the network.

Once authenticated, the CCRS 216 may generate a rerouting message to oneor more conferencing bridges 328 to connect the requesting device 302 toa collaboration conference. In the example of a SIP-based conferencingbridge 328, the CCRS 216 may communicate with the conferencing bridge328 (transmission 320) to determine the proper conferencing bridge forthe requesting device 302. Once the proper bridge 328 is identified, theCCRS 216 transmits a SIP refer message to the SBC 322 (transmission 332)to refer the requesting device 302 to the selected conferencing bridge(transmission 334). In this manner, the user's device 302 and theparticular conference the requester is joining is authenticated with theconferencing control system 202 and connected to a conferencing bridge328 through which a collaboration conference is hosted. Further, theuser or user's device 302 is authenticated with the collaboration systemthrough the use of the authentication token, described above.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method generation and delivery of acollaboration token to a participant of a collaboration conference toauthenticate the participant. In general, the operations of the methodof FIG. 4 are performed by one or more components of atelecommunications network. In one particular embodiment, the operationsare performed by components of the collaboration control systemdescribed above. As such, the operations may be executed through one ormore hardware components of the system, one or more software programs ofthe system, or a combination of both hardware and software components ofthe system.

Beginning in operation 402, the control system receives credentialinformation from the user's device. In one embodiment, an RTAPIcomponent of the control system receives the credential information froma web host component to the network. As described above, the web hostreceives the credential information from the user's device through aninterface accessed by the user's device. In addition, the RTAPIcomponent may transmit the received credential information to a CCRScomponent of the control system.

In operation 404, the control system authenticates the receivedcredential information with a subscriber information database. In theembodiment described above, the CCRS component of the control systemaccesses a subscriber database and compares the received credentialinformation with the information in the database. If the authenticationdatabase can verify that the credential information provided by the usercorresponds to at least one entry in the subscriber database, then thecontrol system authenticates the user as a subscriber to the network.Further, the subscriber database or CCRS may determine if the user hassubscribed to the particular telecommunications network feature ofcollaboration conferencing.

Once authenticated, the control system generates an authentication tokenin operation 406. As described above, the authentication token may be astring of numeric digits that represents or is otherwise associated withan entry in the authentication database corresponding to the user oruser's device authenticated above. Thus, the authentication tokenoperates as a pointer to an entry or entries in the authenticationdatabase corresponding to a subscriber to the collaboration conferencesystem. Further, in operation 408, the control system retains a copy orother type of instance of the generated authentication token. Theretained copy of the authentication token may be used to verify theauthenticity of a received authentication token, explained in moredetail below with reference to FIG. 5.

In operation 410, the control system then transmits the generatedauthentication token to the user's device from which the credentialinformation was received. Through the method of FIG. 4, the controlsystem authenticates a user with the telecommunication network andprovides an authentication token which the user's device may thenutilize to identify and authenticate itself with the telecommunicationsnetwork to utilize one or more features offered through the network.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for receiving anauthentication token from a participant to a collaboration conferenceand connecting that participant to an associated collaborationconference. Similar to the operations of FIG. 4 described above, theoperations of the method of FIG. 4 are performed by one or morecomponents of a telecommunications network. In one particularembodiment, the operations are performed by components of thecollaboration control system described above. As such, the operationsmay be executed through one or more hardware components of the system,one or more software programs of the system, or a combination of bothhardware and software components of the system.

In operation 502, the control system receives a request to join acollaboration conference hosted by a telecommunications network. Therequest to join the collaboration conference includes an authenticationtoken, such as the authentication token provided in the method of FIG.4. In one embodiment, the authentication token is included in a SIPrequest message received at the telecommunications network hosting thecollaboration conference. In operation 504, the control system thencompares the received authentication token with one or more entriesstored in a token repository. If the authentication matches or isotherwise associated with a stored token in the repository, the systemmay deem the request to join the collaboration conference authenticated.As such, in operation 506, the control system may connect the requesterto the collaboration conference if the authentication token isauthenticated. In this manner, a user to a telecommunications networkmay utilize an authentication token to obtain access to one or morecollaboration conferences (or other telecommunications services)provided by the network.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computing deviceor computer system 600 which may be used in implementing embodiments ofthe present invention. The computer system (system) includes one or moreprocessors 602-606. Processors 602-606 may include one or more internallevels of cache (not shown) and a bus controller or bus interface unitto direct interaction with the processor bus 612. Processor bus 612,also known as the host bus or the front side bus, may be used to couplethe processors 602-606 with the system interface 614. Processors 602-606may also be purpose built for processing/mixing media data, such asaudio or video components of a media stream, such as a digital signalprocessor. System interface 614 may be connected to the processor bus612 to interface other components of the system 600 with the processorbus 612. For example, system interface 614 may include a memorycontroller 616 for interfacing a main memory 616 with the processor bus612. The main memory 616 typically includes one or more memory cards anda control circuit (not shown). System interface 614 may also include aninput/output (I/O) interface 620 to interface one or more I/O bridges orI/O devices with the processor bus 612. One or more I/O controllersand/or I/O devices may be connected with the I/O bus 626, such as I/Ocontroller 628 and I/O device 660, as illustrated.

I/O device 660 may also include an input device (not shown), such as analphanumeric input device, including alphanumeric and other keys forcommunicating information and/or command selections to the processors602-606. Another type of user input device includes cursor control, suchas a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicatingdirection information and command selections to the processors 602-606and for controlling cursor movement on the display device.

System 600 may include a dynamic storage device, referred to as mainmemory 616, or a random access memory (RAM) or other computer-readabledevices coupled to the processor bus 612 for storing information andinstructions to be executed by the processors 602-606. Main memory 616also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediateinformation during execution of instructions by the processors 602-606.System 600 may include a read only memory (ROM) and/or other staticstorage device coupled to the processor bus 612 for storing staticinformation and instructions for the processors 602-606. The system setforth in FIG. 6 is but one possible example of a computer system thatmay employ or be configured in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

According to one embodiment, the above techniques may be performed bycomputer system 600 in response to processor 604 executing one or moresequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 616.These instructions may be read into main memory 616 from anothermachine-readable medium, such as a storage device. Execution of thesequences of instructions contained in main memory 616 may causeprocessors 602-606 to perform the process steps described herein. Inalternative embodiments, circuitry may be used in place of or incombination with the software instructions. Thus, embodiments of thepresent disclosure may include both hardware and software components.

A machine readable medium includes any mechanism for storing informationin a form (e.g., software, processing application) readable by a machine(e.g., a computer). Such media may take the form of, but is not limitedto, non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media includesoptical or magnetic disks. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, suchas main memory 616. Common forms of machine-readable medium may include,but is not limited to, magnetic storage medium (e.g., floppy diskette);optical storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM); magneto-optical storage medium;read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); erasableprogrammable memory (e.g., EPROM and EEPROM); flash memory; or othertypes of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions.

As mentioned above, the authentication token may also be associated withone or more conferencing parameters or settings the user wishes to bepresent during a collaboration conference session. For example, inaddition to identifying information of the user, the user may alsoindicate the parameters of the requested collaboration conference, suchas dialing-out to a participant of the conference, features of aweb-conferencing component of the conference, contact and calendarinformation for the conference participants, the technical requirementsfor the conference, and the like. Any of the features available toparticipants to a collaboration conference may then be obtained from theuser and executed by the CIE of the collaboration control system.Further, similar to the authentication of the user being associated withthe authentication token, the authentication token may also beassociated with the selected features such that one or more of thefeatures is executed when the authentication token is received from theuser. Execution of the features is performed by the CIE to provide acentralized component through which the collaboration conferenceparameters are set.

As mentioned, a collaboration conference service available through atelecommunications network may include several features that tailor theconference experience for participants to the conference. For example,the collaboration conference may include a start time, a dialing-out toa participant of the conference feature, features of a web-conferencingcomponent of the conference, quality of service (such as high definitionaudio and/or video), identification of the participants to theconference, contact and calendar information for the conferenceparticipants, participant preferences, and the like. However, it shouldbe appreciated that any feature or parameter related to a collaborationconference are contemplated in the discussion herein concerning theexecution of said features by the CIE or control system of the network.

Similar to the credential information, the features selected by aparticipant to the collaboration conference may be provided by the userthrough a user device. One particular system for collecting andexecuting the selections of one or more participants to a collaborationconference is shown in FIG. 7. The system of FIG. 7 is the same orsimilar to the system depicted and discussed above with reference toFIG. 3. Thus, the identification numbers for the components of thesystems are identical from FIG. 3 to FIG. 7. However, in FIG. 7, theinclusion of the CIE 702 in the control system is illustrated to aid inthe discussion of the execution of the collaboration conferencingfeatures below. It should be appreciated that the connection of thecomponents of the control system 202 illustrated in FIG. 7 is notrequired. Rather, in some embodiments, the components may beinterconnected in any manner. Further, the components of the controlsystem 202 may be embodied on a single device and are capable orintercommunication. The connection in FIG. 7 is for illustrativepurposes only.

In the embodiment 700 illustrated in FIG. 7, the participant may utilizea user device 302 to select which features of the collaborationconference is preferred by accessing a web host 304. The web host 304may include an interface through which the user selects the features ofthe collaboration conference. In one example, the interface may includea list of available features from which the user may select and provideadditional information, if needed. The web host 304 then transmits theselections of the user to the control system 202 of thetelecommunications network. In one particular embodiment, the selectionsare transmitted to the control system 202 along with the credentialinformation discussed above. Further, the web host 304 may transmit theselections to an RTAPI component 218 of the control system 202 forprocessing by the control system.

Once the selections of the user are received, the control system 202 mayanalyze the selections and schedule the execution of the collaborationconference features. For example, one feature may include a start timeof the collaboration conference. The selections received may instructthe network to call the participants at the appointed time at one ormore communication devices provided to the system. This information maybe transmitted to the CIE 702 of the control system 202 for execution.At the appointed time, the CIE 702 may instruct the RTAPI component 218and/or the CCRS component 216 to perform the dial-out feature. Inanother example, the selected feature may be a particular avatar that aparticipant to a web-based collaboration conference prefers to bedisplayed during the conference. The CIE 702 may then instruct the RTAPIcomponent 218 to display the avatar during the conference in thecollaboration conference interface. In this manner, the CIE 702 mayreceive the collaboration conference selected parameters and featuresand instruct one or more of the components of the collaboration controlsystem 202 to perform the features during the conference.

In addition, the CIE 702 may be configured to access the subscriberdatabase 204 to aid the CIE in executing the selected features of theconference. In the example above where a particular avatar for web-basedconferencing is preferred, the avatar may be stored in the subscriptiondatabase 204 and associated with the particular participant to thecollaboration conference. Thus, during the conference, the CIE 702 mayobtain the avatar from the subscriber database 204 and provide theavatar to the RTAPI component 218 for use during the conference.Similarly, the CIE 702 may obtain preferred communication devicetelephone numbers or IP addresses associated with one or more of theparticipants to the conference. With this information, the CIE 702 mayinstruct the RTAPI component 218 and/or the CCRS component 216 toperform the dial-out feature to begin the conference. In general, anyparticipant information that may aid the CIE 702 in performing theselected features of the collaboration conference may be obtained fromthe subscriber database 204 by the CIE. Also, as should be appreciated,many of the features available to a conference participant would not beavailable until the start of the collaboration conference such that theCIE 702 executes the selected features upon initiation of theconference. As such, the selected features may be stored by the controlsystem 202 until the beginning of the collaboration conference, at whichtime the CIE provides the instructions to execute the features.

Similarly, the CIE 702 may communicate and instruct the CCRS component216 of the control system 202 to execute the selected functions of thecollaboration conference. For example, the user may indicate that thecollaboration conference should include high definition audio. When theCIE 702 executes this selected feature, the CIE may instruct the CCRS216 to select a conferencing bridge 328 that supports the highdefinition audio. Other features that may affect the selection of theconferencing bridge 328 include web-based conferencing, location of theparticipants to the conference, quality of service of the conference,and the like.

In addition to the credential information discussed above, theauthentication token may also be associated with the selected featuresof the collaboration conference. For example, upon generation of theauthentication token described above by the CCRS 216 or subscriberdatabase 204, the control system 202 may associate the features selectedby the user during the interface with the web host 304 with the token.Because the selected features are received from a participant that isalso verified through the authentication token, the features may thus beassociated with the user that the authentication token identifies. Asalso mentioned above, the features may be stored by the control system202 until the initiation of the collaboration conference.

When an authentication token is received by the control system, asdescribed in detail above, the control system 202 (in one embodiment,the CCRS 216) may compare the authentication token to a token repositoryto verify the authenticity of the token. If matched, the authenticationof the sender of the token is verified. Similarly, the token may beassociated with one or more selected features of the collaborationconferencing system. In this situation, the CCRS 216 or subscriberdatabase 214 may inform the CIE 702 that a verified authentication tokenis received and to execute the stored collaboration conferencepreferences. Further, in the case where the CIE 702 instructs thecontrol system 202 to execute a dial-out procedure, the control systemmay request the authentication token from a user's device 302 toauthenticate that participant with the network. In this manner, theselected features of the collaboration conference may be associated withthe authentication token provided to or requested from the participantto the conference. Further, the features may be executed by the CIE uponreceipt of the authentication token and initiation of the collaborationconference.

As mentioned above, the collaboration conference system of thetelecommunications network may include a subscribe/notify feature thatallows participants to the collaboration conference to subscribe withthe system to receive a notification when an audio portion of acollaboration conference begins. In particular, a user of theconferencing system 202 may register or subscribe with the CCRS 216 tobe notified when an audio portion of a collaboration conference isinitiated or requested by a participant to the collaboration conference.In one particular example explained in more detail below, thesubscribe/notify feature of the collaboration system 202 may be utilizedduring a web conference to conserve resources of the telecommunicationsnetwork 700 until such resources are needed for the conference.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for a collaboration conferencingsystem to receive a subscription from a user of the system and notifythe user when an audio portion of a collaboration conference isrequested. In one embodiment (and using the network 700 of FIG. 7 fordescription of the method), the operations of the method may beperformed by a CCRS 216 component of a collaboration conference controlsystem 202 of a telecommunications network 700. However, the operationsdescribed may be performed by any type and number of components of atelecommunications network. Thus, for example, one or more operationsmay be performed by a first component, while other operations may beperformed by other components. For simplicity, however, the operationsare discussed herein as performed by the CCRS component or CCRS-relatedcomponents of the network 700.

Beginning in operation 802, the CCRS 216 receives a subscription requestfrom a user or the collaboration system 202. In one embodiment, therequest may be received from the user through the user's communicationdevice 302. In another embodiment, the user may log into the web host304 server to access a web-based collaboration conference. Upon theinitialization of the web-based collaboration conference, the web host304 itself may then subscribe with the CCRS through the subscriptionrequest. In either case, the request is received at the CCRS 216 throughthe RTAPI 218 of the collaboration system 202. In yet other embodiments,the request may be received at the CCRS 216 through any component of thetelecommunications network 700 on which the collaboration conference ishosted.

The subscription request received at the CCRS 216 may include anyinformation concerning the requester and/or the collaboration conferenceassociated with the user. For example, the subscription request mayinclude an identification of the user, such as a user name, useridentification number, client number, Internet Protocol (IP) address, orthe like. In the case where the subscription request is received from aweb host 304, the subscription request may include an identification ofthe web host, a server address or identifier, a client number, and thelike.

In addition to an identification of the requester, the subscriptionrequest may also include preferences of the requester concerning anotification transmitted to the requester. For example, the subscriptionrequest may include a telephone number, IP address, email address, andthe like at which the requester may receive a notification from thesystem 202. Further, the method of contacting the requester may bealtered depending on the time of day and/or day of the week at which thenotification is sent. For example, the requester may request to receivea notification on the requester's cell phone on Monday afternoons and atthe requester's personal computer any other time of the week. Suchinformation may also be included in the subscription request as receivedby the CCRS 216. In yet another embodiment, the subscription request mayinclude a type of request preferred by the requester. For example, onetype of subscription request may be a one-use request where anotification is sent once, followed by a deletion of the subscriptionrequest. Another type of subscription request may be a multi-use requestwhere notifications are sent to the requester each time someoneaccessing an audio portion of a collaboration conference set up by therequester occurs.

In one embodiment, the information discussed above concerning thesubscription request is received from the requester and provided in thesubscription request. For example, the user, through a user interfaceprovided by the RTAPI 218, may indicate the requester's preferencesconcerning the subscription request and notification. In anotherembodiment, such as that shown in operation 804, the informationconcerning the subscription request may be obtained from a databaseassociated with the collaboration system, such as database 204 of thenetwork 700 of FIG. 7. As discussed above, the database 204 may includeinformation concerning users of the network 700, including userpreferences. Such information may thus be provided to the system by theuser at one time and stored for future use by the system. Upon receivinga subscription request from the user, the CCRS 216 may determine a useridentification and access the database 204 to obtain one or morepreferences of the user. Such information obtained from the database 204may include any of the preferences discussed above or any other type ofuser preference associated with the collaboration conference system 202.In yet another embodiment, the CIE 702 may also be accessed by the CCRS216 upon receiving a subscription request. The CIE 702 may, in turn,access the database 204 to obtain and provide the user preferences tothe CCRS 216 for use during notification of the user in response to thesubscription request.

In operation 806, the CCRS 216 may store the subscription request andany other requester information that may be used during notification ofthe user. Storing the subscription request allows the CCRS 216 toexecute the subscription request when a participant to a collaborationconference accessing an audio portion of the collaboration. In oneembodiment, the subscription request and pertinent information is storedin the database 204 of the collaboration conferencing system 202 for useby the CCRS.

In operation 808, the CCRS 216 monitors for requests from users of thesystem 202 to join a collaboration conference hosted by the network 700.In particular and as discussed above, a web-based conference may beinitiated on the collaboration conferencing system 202 for sharingdocuments and other information between computing devices connected tothe network 700. Such collaborations may include an audio portionassociated with the web portion. However, rather than selecting aconferencing bridge 328 for hosting the audio portion and reserving oneor more ports of the bridge, the CCRS may instead receive a subscriptionrequest from one or more of the participants to the web portion of thecollaboration. In one embodiment, the subscription request is associatedwith at least a chairperson of the collaboration conference. In anotherembodiment, the subscription request is associated with a web host 304or web server through which participants collaborate.

At some time, the CCRS 216 may receive a request to join or initiate anaudio collaboration conference, as discussed above. In one example, theCCRS 216 may determine that the request to join an audio collaborationconference is received from one or more participants of a web conferencethat is already initiated. In other words, the CCRS 216, by identifyinga particular collaboration conference from the information provided bythe requester of the audio portion, may determine that the request audioportion is associated with one or more of the stored subscriptionrequests. Continuing the above example, a participant to the web portionof the collaboration may call a telephone number and use a passcodeassociated with the web portion that indicates the participant wants touse the related audio portion of the collaboration. The CCRS 216 may, inturn, compare the received request to stored subscription requests todetermine if a user of the system 202 wants to be notified when someoneattempts to access an audio portion of a collaboration associated withthe requester. For example, a chairperson of a collaboration conferencemay provide the subscription request to the CCRS 216 to be notified whena participant to the conference accesses the audio portion of theconference. In this manner, the CCRS 216 monitors requests to join acollaboration conference and determines if a notification to a user ofthe system 202 should be transmitted based on the received request.

When such a request to join an audio collaboration conference isreceived, the CCRS 216 may select a conferencing bridge 328 associatedwith the network 700 and establish the audio portion on the selectedconferencing bridge in operation 810. Because such reservation of portson a conferencing bridge 328 for this particular collaborationconference has not occurred prior to the receiving of the request, theresources of the conferencing bridge 328 may be used for otherconferences. As such, the resources of the network 700 are not consumeduntil the audio portion of the collaboration conference is requested bya participant. Once established on the conferencing bridge 328, the CCRS216 may transmit one or more notifications in response to one or morestored subscription requests in operation 812. Such notifications may besent to users or to one or more web hosts 304 associated with thenetwork 700. In one particular embodiment, the subscription may bereceived for a conference that is already in progress. In this case, theCCRS 216 may return the notification as described above immediately withthe conferencing host bridge identification to the subscriber forconnection to the ongoing collaboration conference.

In general, the notification is transmitted through the network 700 tothe requester of the subscription request. In one particular example,the notification is transmitted from the CCRS 216 to the user throughthe RTAPI 218. Further, the notification may include any type ofinformation concerning the audio portion of the collaboration, includingbut not limited to, the selected conferencing bridge for the audioportion, the particular collaboration conference identifier, the starttime of the collaboration conference, the participant accessing theaudio portion, and other participants registered with the audio portion.Further, the notification may be tailored to a particular preference ofthe device on which the requester receives the notification. Forexample, the notification may be an email, a text message, an automatedtelephone call, a pop-up window on a user interface on the requester'scomputer, and the like. The type of notification transmitted to therequester may also be based on the time and day that the audio portionis accessed, as discussed above. In general, the notification may betailored in response to any preference of the subscription requester,including preferences provided by the requester and/or preferencesobtained from the CIE and database 204 of the collaboration conferencesystem 202.

In one particular embodiment, the notification may be configured toallow the receiver of the notification to connect to the audio portion.For example, the notification may be an automated telephone message thatinstructs the receiver to press a button on the receiver's telephonedevice to connect to the audio portion. In another example, thenotification may appear on a user interface associated with a webportion of the collaboration conference. The notification may be clickedor otherwise selected through the requester's computing device toconnect to the audio portion. In yet another example, the notificationmay be an email that includes a link to connect to the audio portion ofthe collaboration conference. In this manner, the notificationtransmitted to the requester may include a way to access the audioportion through the received notification.

In one embodiment, the notification transmitted by the CCRS 216 inresponse to a participant accessing an audio portion of a conference maybe provided to more than one participant to the collaboration. Forexample, several participants to a particular conference may provide asubscription request to the CCRS 216 to receive a notification when theaudio portion of the conference is accessed. The several subscriptionrequests may be stored and a notification is sent to each subscriptionrequester when the audio portion is accessed. In another example, thecollaboration conference may be hosted by the web host 304. In such ascenario, the web host 304 or web host server may provide thesubscription request to the CCRS 216. Thus, when a participant to thecollaboration conference accessing the audio portion, the CCRS 216provides the notification to the web host 304. The web host 304, inturn, may provide a notification to each participant of thecollaboration, some participants to the collaboration, or oneparticipant. In one example, the web host 304 may provide an indicatoron a user interface available to one or more participants to theconference hosted by the web host that indicates a participant is usingthe audio portion of the conference. In this manner, the notificationmay be provided to more than one participant to the collaborationconference.

As mentioned above, the subscription request may be of several types ofrequests. For example, the subscription request may be a “one-use”request such that a single notification is sent out to the requesterwhen the audio portion is accessed. Another subscription request type isa “multi-use” request that notifies the requester each time the audioportion is accessed. Thus, the CCRS 216 may maintain a list of pendingnotifications accordingly. For example, upon sending a notification fora single-use subscription request, the CCRS 216 may then delete thesubscription request from the database 204. Alternatively, upon sendinga notification for a multi-use subscription request, the CCRS 216 maymaintain the subscription request in the database 204 for futureaccessing of the audio portion of a conference associated with thesubscription requester.

Further, it should be noted that it is not required that thesubscribe/notify feature of the collaboration conference system 202 beutilized only during a collaboration that includes a web portion.Rather, a user of the collaboration conference may provide asubscription request to the CCRS 216 to be notified when a participantto an audio collaboration conference joins the conference. For example,a user of the collaboration conference may have a multi-use subscriptionrequest associated with the user's account with the collaborationsystem. Through the use of the subscription request, the user may thenbe notified whenever another user of the system accesses an audiocollaboration conference associated with the user's account. In thismanner, a user to the system may receive the notification that aparticipant to a conference has accessed the audio portion and may thenaccess the same audio portion to begin the collaboration. As such, thesubscribe/notify feature of the collaboration conference system may beused to notify a user to the system with or without the presence of anassociated web portion of the conference.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include various steps, which aredescribed in this specification. The steps may be performed by hardwarecomponents or may be embodied in machine-executable instructions, whichmay be used to cause a general-purpose or special-purpose processorprogrammed with the instructions to perform the steps. Alternatively,the steps may be performed by a combination of hardware, software and/orfirmware.

The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention.Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments willbe apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein.It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be ableto devise numerous systems, arrangements and methods which, although notexplicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of theinvention and are thus within the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. From the above description and drawings, it will beunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the particularembodiments shown and described are for purposes of illustrations onlyand are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.References to details of particular embodiments are not intended tolimit the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for establishing a collaborationconference on a telecommunications network, the method comprising:receiving a subscription request from a user of the telecommunicationsnetwork, the subscription request comprising at least an identificationof the user, wherein the user is a host of the collaboration conference;storing the subscription request in a database; connecting the user to aweb portion of the collaboration conference, wherein the web portion ofthe collaboration conference includes sharing documents between the userand a participant via the telecommunications network; receiving, duringthe web portion of the collaboration conference, an initial request toaccess an audio portion of the collaboration conference from theparticipant, wherein receiving the initial request occurs prior to aninitial audio connection between the user connected to the web portionand the telecommunication network; reserving a port on a conferencebridge for the audio portion of the collaboration conference responsiveto receiving the initial request; and connecting the user to the audioportion of the collaboration conference.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising causing, in response to receiving the initial requestfrom the participant, a notification to the user to be displayed in auser interface for the web portion.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein theweb portion is accessible through a user computing device and the webportion of the collaboration conference is hosted by a web host serverassociated with the telecommunications network.
 4. The method of claim2, further comprising receiving a response to the notification from theuser.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the subscription request furthercomprises one or more notification preferences of the user.
 6. Themethod of claim 3 further comprising: retrieving one or morenotification preferences of the user from an entry in the database, theentry in the database associated with the identification of the user ofthe subscription request.
 7. The method of claim 4, wherein thenotification comprises a link adapted to be selected by the user toconnect the user computing device to the audio portion of thecollaboration conference.
 8. A system for establishing a collaborationconference, the system comprising: a network interface unit adapted toreceive a communication from a user device of a communications networkto establish a collaboration conference on the communications network;at least one processor in communication with the network interface unit;and instructions stored on a computer-readable medium that, whenexecuted, cause the at least one processor to: receive a subscriptionrequest from the user device of the communications network, thesubscription request comprising at least an identification of a userassociated with the user device, wherein the user is a host of thecollaboration conference; store the subscription request in a database;connect the user device to a web portion of the collaborationconference, wherein the web portion of the collaboration conferenceincludes sharing documents between the user and a participant via thetelecommunications network; receive, during the web portion of thecollaboration conference, an initial request to access an audio portionof the collaboration conference from the participant, wherein receipt ofthe initial request occurs prior to an initial audio connection betweenthe user device connected to the web portion and the telecommunicationnetwork; reserve a port on a conference bridge for the audio portion ofthe collaboration conference responsive to receiving the initialrequest; compare the request to access the audio portion of thecollaboration conference to the stored subscription request in thedatabase; and connect the user to the audio portion of the collaborationconference.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the web portion isaccessible on a computing device in communication with thecommunications network and a web host server adapted to host the webportion of the collaboration conference.
 10. The system of claim 8wherein the user device of the communications network is the web hostserver.
 11. The system of claim 8 wherein the subscription requestfurther comprises one or more notification preferences of the user. 12.The system of claim 8 wherein the instructions, when executed, furthercause the at least one processor to: retrieve one or more notificationpreferences of the user from an entry in the database, the entry in thedatabase associated with the identification of the user of thesubscription request.
 13. The system of claim 8 wherein the notificationcomprises a link adapted to be selected by the user to connect thecomputing device to the audio portion of the collaboration conference.14. A nontransitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that,when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least oneprocessor to perform a method for establishing a collaborationconference on a telecommunications network, the method comprising:receiving a subscription request from a user of the telecommunicationsnetwork, the subscription request comprising at least an identificationof the user, wherein the user is a host of the collaboration conference;storing the subscription request in a database; connecting the user to aweb portion of the collaboration conference, wherein the web portion ofthe collaboration conference includes sharing documents between the userand a participant via the telecommunications network; receiving, duringthe web portion of the collaboration conference, an initial request toaccess an audio portion of the collaboration conference from theparticipant, wherein receiving the initial request occurs prior to aninitial audio connection between the user connected to the web portionand the telecommunication network; reserving a port on a conferencebridge for the audio portion of the collaboration conference responsiveto receiving the initial request; and connecting the user to the audioportion of the collaboration conference.
 15. The nontransitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 14, the method further comprisingcausing, in response to receiving the initial request from theparticipant, a notification to the user to be displayed in a userinterface for the web portion.
 16. The nontransitory computer-readablemedium of claim 14, wherein the web portion is accessible through a usercomputing device and the web portion of the collaboration conference ishosted by a web host server associated with the telecommunicationsnetwork.
 17. The nontransitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, themethod further comprising receiving a response to the notification fromthe user.
 18. The nontransitory computer-readable medium of claim 14,wherein the subscription request further comprises one or morenotification preferences of the user.
 19. The nontransitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 14, the method further comprising:retrieving one or more notification preferences of the user from anentry in the database, the entry in the database associated with theidentification of the user of the subscription request.
 20. Thenontransitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein thenotification comprises a link adapted to be selected by the user toconnect the user computing device to the audio portion of thecollaboration conference.